AUTHOR=Su Xukun , Shen Yu , Dong Shikui , Liu Yuqing , Cheng Hao , Wan Lingfan , Liu Guohua 

TITLE=Feedback and Trigger of Household Decision-Making to Ecological Protection Policies in Sanjiangyuan National Park

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.827618

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2021.827618

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=Ignoring responses of local households to ecological protection policies can not only seriously limit sustainable development of the alpine grassland ecosystem, but also can not improve livelihood and well-being of local households on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). It is necessary to clearly understand coupling feedback and trigger between household decision-making of local herdsmen with implementation of ecological protection policies. We selected Sanjiangyuan National Park (SNP) as the study area which was in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the first national park in China. We used global rangeland model (G-Range model) to simulate changes of alpine grassland and DEcisions under Conditions of Uncertainty by Modeled Agents model (DECUMA model) to identify household decision-making of local herdsmen. Results showed that: (1) distribution of livestock density was basically consistent with distribution of habitat suitability of local households in the SNP; (2) more than a half of the uneducated households (52% and 70%) opposed the eco-compensation and eco-migration policies; (3) most of households (53.68%) never chose to trade livestock for maintaining livelihood; and (4) 65 thousands yuan (≈10 thousand dollars) in debts as the critical value (trigger), local households selected to trade livestocks to support their livelihood. We suggest that feedback and trigger of household decision-making should be fully considered by managers of national park and policy-makers of local governments in planning ecological protection policies to maintain sustainable development of alpine grassland, which is of practical significance to long-term conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources in the SNP.